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Probation Service. Instead each agency reports upon its data as if these were represented
in separate silos of information. Some studies of a quantitative nature have been
conducted to measure the use of specific sanctions such as community service and the
suspended sentence (Walsh and Sexton 1999, Needham 1983, Whitaker 1985, Rottman
and Tormey 1985). A qualitative study of sentencing practices in Ireland was conducted
by Vaughan (2001) (Bacik 2002:359) which concluded that judges did not necessarily
believe in the rehabilitative capacity of the prison sentence but they invested the sanction
with a wider function of deterrence and public protection. Separately, Bacik et al (1998)
have examined the link between economic deprivation and crime in the Dublin
Metropolitan Area. They found that offenders before the District Court in Dublin are
predominantly young, male and from areas of high economic deprivation and that
custodial sentences were imposed for 29% of those convicted from the most deprived
areas compared with 19% for those convicted from the least deprived area. Thus clear
evidence of a variation in the use of the custodial sentence was presented in this study.
O’Malleysurveyed sentences of rape cases for the year 1992/1994. He found that a bench
mark or average sentence for rape could be found in a sentence ranging from 7 to 10 years
imprisonment (O’Malley1996).
The present study is intended to add more coherence to the field of information on
sentencing in Ireland. It is not intended to present a completed mosaic at its conclusion
but rather will continue, in the present Irish tradition in the studyof sentencing matters, to
consider further an area which has not received specific attention to date. The deployment
of sentences which specifically seek to displace the custodial sentence are central to the
enquiry. Such answers which will emerge from the study may affect the approach which
future policy makers may adopt in relation to the use of the sanctions. Moreover, by
providing information to judges on the operation of these sanctions, which is not ready to
handin dailypractice, a certain consistencyof approach (O’Malley2003) mayemerge.
To date, the number of qualitative studies on sentencing practice in Ireland is miniscule
(Bacik 2002). This studyattempts to address an important area in this “absentee discipline”
(Kilcommins et al 2004: vii) by identifying the two sanctions which are directly related to
the custodial sentence but which when imposed do not require the convicted offender
actually to enter into custody. Instead, compliance with a suspended sentence or
performance of a community service order within the prescribed time limits provided,
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